Archive for the "art" Category

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have you ever wondered what the difference is between interior design and interior decorating? Using our home library as an example, I will illustrate the difference between these two essential concepts: interior design requires conceptualizing and outlining changes that require construction, whereas interior decorating refers to changes in color, furnishings, window treatments and accessories. The photo […]

A few months ago Helene Cogen moved from Miami, Florida, to Portland, Oregon, because her children and grandchildren live here. She had owned a home here for years, but only used it in the summer, so it was furnished like a beach house–very casual, with lots of white wicker furniture. With a permanent move, she wanted […]

Doesn’t have to be all orange. I love to mix a variety of pomegranates, gourds, and flowers with blue and white porcelain and table linens. Don’t forget the chandelier! My favorite corvids grace the chandelier every year during Halloween season. What else can you think of to put on yours? Design principle for all seasons: repetition. The […]

One expects transformation with a remodel. The results of this particular basement remodel are so dramatic that I’m calling it “transmogrification.” The beautiful space below . . . used to look like this: Since I’m not an engineer or an architect, I called upon Wade Freitag at Craftsman Design and Renovation to help with the construction design for this […]

A few months back a long-time client called me to ask if we could do a makeover on her oldest daughter’s bedroom. The daughter had graduated college, moved across the country to start her career, and didn’t know that any changes would be made. She asked if we could please keep the wallpaper so it wouldn’t […]

Our long-time clients, Susan and Bruce Winthrop, recently downsized from a large suburban home to a condo on the top floor of Atwater Place in the South Waterfront. They no longer wanted to deal with the upkeep of a house and large yard, and they wanted to be nearer the city center where many of their favorite […]

When the homeowner asked Emery & Associates to help her choose finish materials for the new home she was building, we found ourselves ensconced in a treasure trove of antique French furnishings, accessories and art work. After listening carefully to her stated preferences, we created a palette around her favorites colors, plum and green. The […]

Did you ever go shopping to find sheets or towels in your favorite colors and discover they don’t exist? At the moment there are LOTS of gray items, as gray is really hot right now. But try finding sage green or plum bedding or decorative pillows in a retail store. It’s practically impossible! Since Emery […]

This year we changed up our master bedroom. It went from earthy, Tuscan colors–sage, gold, and red–to spa blue with crisp white linens to echo the white trim, now more prominent than ever with the draperies removed. Never mind that the bedroom in its previous incarnation had been published in a magazine in 2007 […]

I want to tell you a story about a lamp–the one pictured above in its “AFTER” incarnation. Unlike those shows you see on HGTV, most real interior design installations are done in stages. Furnishings trickle in from various vendors, and eventually everything is in place. I wasn’t intending to write about the project pictured in […]